Allotment tampering: police raid Internet cafes

KOZHIKODE: The police carried out raids at various Internet cafes in the city on Friday in connection with a case of a student losing her MBBS seat at Kozhikode Medical College after her allotment number was tampered with during the online counselling process.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) K. Jayendran said the hard disk of several systems was seized from the Internet cafes for examination. Owners had been told to keep a record of the identity of those visiting the cafes but many of them did not maintain a record of the person using a system at a particular date and time, he said.

Mr. Jayendran, along with two experts from the Cyber Cell, and the local police conducted the raids.

The student, A.S. Tintu, had secured admission to the MBBS course at the Kozhikode Medical College here through the first allotment. She also attended classes for two weeks in September.

However, she received another memo from the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations stating that she had secured admission to B.Tech. mechanical engineering at an engineering college based on her preference in the second allotment. However, she had not applied for any second option.

The police said someone could have tinkered with the options if she had forgotten to close the page after the online counselling process at the Internet café visited by her or they could have gained access to her password.

Stay secured

The site itself could have been hacked too. The student approached the High Court of Kerala and secured a stay on the admission process. But the college authorities have already completed the next round of admissions.

A case has been registered at the Town police station. Investigation officers are yet to find any clues into the incident.